On the show this week Tony and I explored the harmonica! The harmonica is one of the most versatile and portable instruments in popular music, equally at home in blues, folk, rock, soul, and even dance-pop. Its distinctive sound comes from reeds vibrating as the player exhales and inhales, with bends, overblows, and hand effects adding expressive nuance. From early blues innovators to global chart-toppers, the harmonica has shaped iconic songs across decades of music history.
Blues to Beatles
Little Walter recorded Juke (1952) in Chicago with Muddy Waters’ band. It became his breakthrough and remains the definitive blues harmonica standard. Walter distorted his amp and used tape delay, both major innovations for 1952. The track opens with a swinging shuffle in E, Walter playing cross-harp in mixolydian mode, with the band following his elastic sense of bar length. Odd meter changes in the second chorus add to the urgency before it locks back into 4/4. It became his first and most important hit, and reshaped the harmonica’s role in blues.
John Lennon would later dismiss the harmonica as “a gimmick”, but the instrument featured on each of The Beatles‘ first four studio albums. I Should Have Known Better (1964), originally issued on their A Hard Day’s Night soundtrack, would be arguably the last time that the band relied heavily on the instrument. Lennon’s harmonica opens the song and drives the secondary hook. I Should Have Known Better exemplifies The Beatles‘ early use of overdubbing; the harmonica riff collides with Lennon’s own vocal.
Stevie Wonder & The Doobie Brothers
For Once In My Life was originally a ballad (famously recorded by Tony Bennett), but was reimagined by Motown as an upbeat anthem. At just 17, Stevie Wonder recorded a dazzling chromatic harmonica solo in F# major that leaps across two octaves, climaxing with a piercing high note. The chromatic’s sliding button lets players shift up a semitone, giving Stevie his virtuosic runs. Released in late 1968, it became a top-three hit in both the US and UK.
The Doobie Brothers‘ Long Train Runnin’ began as an untitled jam, but evolved into a gritty minor-key blues shuffle written by Tom Johnston. Built on a G minor 12-bar blues with a distinctive rhythm guitar part, the harmonica solo is deceptively simple – a handful of notes bent and attacked with ferocity, punctuated by hand-wah effects to mimic a train’s whistle. Johnston handled vocals, guitar, and harp. The song peaked at No. 8 in the US, and became a defining moment of the band’s third album The Captain and Me.
Stevie again…
There Must Be An Angel by The Eurhythmics reached No. 1 in the UK – the only time that Annie Lennox and Dave Stewart topped the charts. Its crowning moment is a harmonica solo by Stevie Wonder, who improvised freely over 16 bars. The solo blends his unmistakable phrasing with the track’s gospel-tinged grandeur. With its soaring chord progression and Wonder’s cameo, the song fused British synth-pop with Motown soul.
Pitbull’s Timber (2013), featuring Kesha, turned a harmonica riff into a global dance-pop hook. The line, played by Paul Harrington, interpolates Danish player Lee Oskar’s San Francisco Bay (1978). Initially paid just $1,000, Harrington later received a $50,000 settlement after the track went to No. 1 in over 15 countries and spent three weeks atop the US Billboard Hot 100. Blending EDM, country, and folktronica, the harmonica drives the call-and-response melody as much as the vocals.
Brothers of Paradise
Our soundslike this week compared Bird of Paradise by Snowy White (1983) with Brothers In Arms by Dire Straits (1985).
Harmonica Quiz
For our quiz this week, we played clips from famous songs featuring the harmonica – guess the artist and song!
As always, find the show and blog at joebennett.net/5live, with occasional Instagram extras at @joebennettmusicology. With a new show comes a new Spotify mega-playlist, which contains all songs featured on the show:
And you can still listen to our old mega-playlist here.
- Words: Joe Bennett, John Pierce O’Reilly
- Audio production: Joe Bennett, Rafi Waters
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